who transpired bomb and arrest mystery africa direct on al jazeera. ah, the only cronan dell to variance drive a dramatic increase in the numbers of infections across the world. but a drop in south africa sees restrictions east. and new year's celebrations begin in the shadow, were po for 19 restrictions. zealand is the 1st one of the 1st countries to ring in 2022. ah, hello, i'm emily. ang, when this is al jazeera, live from doha, also coming up. thousands of people are evacuated as destructive wildfires take hold in the us state of colorado and us troops and they combat mission in iraq. but

they still opposition to the few remaining on the ground. ah, for a 2nd year the corona virus pandemic is impacting how the world celebrates the new year. let's go straight to new zealand where it's just gone midnight. this is oakland where traditional midnight fi works over the sky tower have been replaced with a light shirt. the fireworks were cancelled due to coven 19 celebrations around the world are being canceled or reduced in scale because of the pandemic. it was 2 years ago that china 1st reported an ammonia like illness to the w. a charm. more than 5400000 people have now died of cove at 19. the global race of new infections in the past week has raged more than a 1000000 cases. a day. 2021 started with the hope life saving vaccines with

$0.60 of the world population getting inoculated. but as the you drove to close, there is still a vaccine inequity with which countries having surfaced doses and poor country missing out on vaccinations. 2021 was also a year of variance with delta and now ami cron. sweeping the globe. the un secretary general antonia could tear it has been calling on world later to make vaccine equity a priority. both for morality and avoiding more variance, taking it more live restrictions in south africa being lifted after infections dropped there by almost 30 percent last week. and nighttime curfew has now been scrapped and alcohol shops will be able to say open past 11 p. m. the government believes it's past the peak of the 4th wave, fueled by the army con variance. the rapids spreading rapid spreading variant caused a massive search of infections in mid december for me to mila has more from cape

town. well, the government year has been under immense pressure, especially from the hospitality sector to reduce the lockdown restriction level. because this really is the peak holiday period in south africa. and the countries already suffering international travel bands. and so the tourism industry has been severely affected as well as the economy. and so now is relying on domestic tourism to try and boost the economy. so the government has said it's lowered restrictions as far as possible. and the main issue there was a curve you between 12 midnight and for a m, that's no longer exists and people are allowed to move freely throughout the day. and this comes just ahead of new year's eve celebrations. the government has said this is based on the numbers of infections or the number of infections rather dropping significantly by 30 percent of africa. and now having a far fewer act of corona,

virus infections in the country. and also saying that the hospitals and their, their ability and resources to accommodate people who might need hospitalization. there are enough resources. there really isn't that issue. and experts have also said, what is interesting is that yes, the army con variant is highly infectious. but they saw a very rapid peak and then also a steep decline in a matter of weeks. and so this is a kind of information that has led to the restrictions been lowered, that along with the uptake of vaccines was had to china. now where it is 13000000 people in the city of shyanne will be spending their new year's eve under locked em in struggling with the highest number of cases recorded in any chinese city this year. the government is under pressure to bring them down before the start of the winter olympics in february can training year reports from badging in a suburban neighbourhood in the city of she, an instructions from a loudspeaker tell residents not to leave their apartments unless absolutely

necessary. 3 year old long dough is making the most of the opportunity to stretch his legs. members of his family are only allowed outdoors to take corporate 19 tests and collect delivered supplies. they are among the 30000000 people who will spend new years eve, under strict locked down one. mm hm. yes. my son is very young and doesn't understand a lockdown or a what the increase in case numbers me. yeah. he only knows that many people outside are sick. and if we go out, we could be infected, shall he panics a bit and feel scared. he tells me i don't want to be infected and going to quarantine on the guy. yeah. without big early his mother junk. so when is a kindergarten teacher? she was shocked to receive notice of the lockdown last week. more than $1000.00 cases have been reported and she on since the beginning of december, it's the worst outbreak. china's faced in months and the most severe measures and

persons to woo hon lockdown last year. a policy allowing one member of the household to buy groceries every 2 days was scrapped earlier this week. after infections continued to rise. some residents have taken to social media to complain about a lack of access to food and other essential goods. the complaints prompted authorities to offer free food deliveries. they say the problem is with delivery and not supply tall thong to junker the supply of daily necessity. see she on is sufficient on the whole, the commerce ministry will take further measures to ensure a stable supply or the process of a daily necessities. it's been 2 years since w h. o. officials and china were 1st notified of the mysterious flu like illness emerging in one and 2 years since dr. lee. when leann sounded the alarm about the outbreak before be silenced, and eventually dying from the corona virus himself. since then, officials responsible for mishandling information in the early days of the pandemic

had been punished, and most of the country's population has been dull vaccinated. but it's still unclear how the coroner virus originated. china has defended it 0 tolerance approach to corbet. 19 officials here say close borders and heavy handed measures have kept total infections, who about 100000 death to below $5000.00. but international experts have question to government figures. beijing is under increased pressure to control this latest outbreak and lift the she unlocked down before the winter olympics open in february for junk. so when at her son they have little toys but to try to stay fit and healthy at home fe. long dos, favorite sport is swimming. but he doesn't know when he'll be able to do it again for real. katrina, you out a 0. they didn't in the u. k prime minister barak johnson is called on low celebrating the new year to get tested as only cron spreads across the country.

huge people to be cautious and sensible tonight. paul brennan is covering the elements from london and joins us live now. at low poll, it's difficult to believe that at the end of 2021 already. and the pain says we're in a better place than this time last year around. yes, and then this social media message that he put out a video message on twitter. he said that the u. k with incomparably better than the situation we were in here in this country. 12 months ago he pointed to a battery economic situation. busy he also pointed to a few hospitalizations from corona virus as well. it is a big gamble that the u. k. prime minister is engaged in he's, he's trying to work out whether to keep the economy open and allow hospitality to take place. essentially giving the population the chance to celebrate christmas and new year. i'm hoping that the relatively mild,

comparatively mild symptoms from the alma khan variant will not lead to an overwhelming of the national health service. so he gave this very bullish video address via twitter, but it came with a caveat, and that was that people should if at all possible top up that jobs and make sure they get boosted. let's have a listen. the people who think the disease can't hurt them. look at the people going into hospital now. that could be you look at the intensive care units and the miserable needless suffering of those who did not get their booster. that could be you. so making your new year's resolution far easier than losing weight or keeping a diary. find a walk in center or make an online appointment. get that job and do something that will make 2022. a happy new year. russell said johnson has said get tested before

heading and celebrating the one other impact has on the con, had on knees and celebrations. oh, well, i mean, the public authorities have lost the counsel, the big official events that we're going to take place. for example, here in london, a trafalgar square that was due to be a party at ticketed party for around 6 and a half 1000 after that, that was cancelled a couple of weeks ago as a result of fears about it becoming some kind of super spread event clearly, viruses like parties and especially at new year's eve where you'll likely link arms with strangers in the streets and single lang, zine, and things like that. and embrace in which people are a happy new year and good luck for 2022. the risk of that leading to a big spike in corona virus cases in mid to late january is obviously there. there are concerns about the number of over sixty's who are now reporting positive cases . but that said, there is a conviction that omicron is more mild. it isn't yet putting the sort of pressure on the n h s on the health service here in the u. k. that it was under last year.

and so, although it is a big gamble at the moment with incomplete data though, at the moment it seems to be paying off said no need cases to nightfall. all right, thank you very much. the u. s. stays of colorado is battling some of the most destructive wild fires in its history. hundreds of homes have been destroyed in tens of thousands of people have been evacuated to towns near denver. a hardest hit is being described as a life threatening situation. laura been manly reports. this is the moment a huge fire came rolling down the foothills of boulder, county and colorado. the false moving blaze engulfed hundreds of homes. local say they haven't experienced anything like it's you know, this is the 1st time i've really been involved in anything like this and i'll tell you it is really scary. did choose and things in the trees. oh, they're all up in flames. like there's embers everywhere. so it makes me very

frightened, of course, with the wind that it's going to continue to spread to other home strong winds and dry conditions of fueling the flames. official say some of the fire to spark by falling power lines which ignited prairie grasses, estates for emergencies being declared and tens of thousands of people evacuated from the towns of superior and louisville. many a getting stuck in traffic jams, as they tried to escape. gusts of a 100110 miles an hour can and have moved this fire down a football field in a matter of seconds. very little time to get out very little time to even get the most important parts of your life. we currently have thousands of individuals in the south, south part of our county and in the areas of superior and lewisville who have been evacuated. we know that there are structures, both homes and businesses that have been burned and loss. speaking about hundreds

of structures in boulder, county, tens of thousands of people have been left in the dark with power lines down or destroyed. patients in critical care, a being moved out of hospitals because of the threat from smoke winds, a gradually weakening, giving fire fight as some respite. but the billowing smoke could be a bigger hazard. as it travels across colorado. lore about manly al jazeera still head on al jazeera, a temporary fix, that thousands of refugees in the emma is much needed. aid is sent in after days of fighting. we report from the time bought us and we visit easily, still making company linked to high cancer rights and toxic pollution. were the government succeed in turning it grain? ah, ah,

look forward to brighter skies. the weather sponsored my cattle airways. hello, the weather remains quiet across a good part of china around the korean peninsula. pretty cold. having said that, but the really cold air that's been driving its way down across much of japan, the winds coming in from a north westley or nor the direction behind our cold front. and that's been producing yet more very heavy snow. and there's more to come to we go through saturday that snowfall affecting a good part of a kind of northern han shoe and it's still in place as we go on through sunday, starting to diminish as we go on through the day being see the next batch of winter weather will push in by the end of sunday as the dry weather, the cold, crisp sunshine, dazzling sunshine, therefore the korean peninsula and for much of china. meanwhile, we got sir, plenty of sunshine across. so central parts of india. at the moment we have got some live showers down towards the se longest bells of right i mean pushed in on

the ne monsoon. so southern parts of under the dash, seeing some heavy rain tumble, knotty, still very, very disturbed, and we'll see more heavy showers also feeding the way into a good part of a small anchor farther north. that's where it is dry. it is cold. we got the fog problems once again. we dealt with the top temperature 21 celsius, but size of some wet weather on a wesley disturbance later this week. oh, the weather sponsored by casara always a right of passage preserved through the generation. my cousin was laying down there until was claiming she was helpless. the woman who after indoors as go so far talk of paint for what pat, my naive meets the women affected by f, g m. and those re shaping perception. do you think people will abandon to, sir? you have to worry about the things take. i al jazeera correspondent, the conte. oh

oh hello. are you watching out a 0? i'm emily angland, a reminder of our top stories. this album, south africa says italy's restrictions after carbon 19 infections dropped by almost 30 percent last week. the government believes it's past the peak of the army crone variance. new zealand is one of the 1st places in the world to celebrate the new year. the fireworks were cancelled due to coven 19 celebrations around the world, and being canceled or reduced in scale because of the pandemic. and hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the us state of colorado. after wildfires driven by high winds engulfed to towns new denver. it's being described as

a life threatening situation. tens of thousands of people have been told to leave their homes immediately. 8 is being sent from thailand to people displaced by fighting and me and my after violence near the border east over the past couple of days. but ethnic car and fight is in man, my say dell army negotiate a safe fire if all government troops leave areas where fees fighting has taken place. tourney chang reports on the water of thailand and men. bags of rice and beans loaded up from a warehouse in the tie town of mess up. it's emergency aid desperately needed by people who fled from fighting inside myanmar. the relief package has been put together by local businessmen who come from murmur, but live here in thailand. they're doing it because no one else will. this is their janese, our job, and our we're, we're just like a small groups and a we a grass route. we have not many capacity of like funding we're you know,

they're gathering this kind of aids, but operating in muma is complicated. first volunteers have to negotiate with time . border guards who are helpful, but whose 1st priority is security. then a call to a local contact on the other bank, and men mar over coming across the river. now to get the supplies mirror boxes of instant noodles, some water and some salt to with more than 10000 people displaced inside murmur. this is only a very temporary fix. on the high side, everyone retreats behind the tape barrier and not to cope with 19 protocols. the swimmers then load the precious cargo on to make shift rafts, the waters shallow, so ferrying it across the river isn't hard. that they can't afford to lose anything . looks of relief on the opposite bank. and not just because of the food. fighting between government troops and the ethnic current fighters has eased over the last 2 days. and the time military say that confident me will step back.

because i guess a little all this time we've always received good cooperation when it comes to asking them to stop so that there won't be any threat to the safety of ties and their property. and we can meet them the correct fighters on so sure. they've been in conflict with me, amazon me for decades, and as little trumps have, i don't know, we don't trust the ceasefire. they've been destroying villages killing villages and leaving on the ashes. so how can you trust them? how can you have a cease fire? all of that bad news for more than 5000 refugees on the ty side. then now assembled in one temp on the tiles, stores his are installing infrastructure, suggesting an extended stay. that could mean it'll be weeks if not months before they can cross these hills. and return home. tony chang al jazeera. on the time ma'am ma border. more than $100.00 ring refugees who spend almost a month drifted see in a damaged boat,

an allen quarantine in indonesia. the group made up of mostly women and children was allowed to do some back and they will be moved into temporary housing. once health checks have been completed, indonesia initially planned to turn the boat away but allowed it to land after international pressure. the former president of south korea has been released from jail pass. good, hey, has served almost 5 years of more than 20 year prison sentence for corruption. president moon jane gave the 69 year old a special patterns last week. the russian and us presidents have spoken for the 2nd time this month in a bid to de escalate tensions are the ukraine. the white house is the coal between joe biden and let me put in lasted 15 minutes by and repeated the thread of sanctions. if moscow invites ukraine person, however, said such a move could lead to a complete breakdown of ties between the 2 countries. john, hindrance has more from washington d. c. in

a 50 minute conversation between us president joe biden and russian president vladimir putin, the 2 sides laid out their diplomatic positions over growing tensions in ukraine. that is where a 100000 russian troops are amassed on the russian side of that border. after that, talk us press secretary for the president, jim saki issued a statement saying, quote, president biden urged russia to de escalate tensions with ukraine. he made clear that the united states and its allies and partners will respond decisively if russia further invades ukraine. president biden also expressed support for diplomacy. she went on to say that the president reiterated that substantive progress in these dialogues can occur only in an environment de escalation rather than escalation. then we have the response from the russian side assistant to president vladimir putin. uri you shock, i've said one conclusion was underscored if the security negotiations are

successful, it should naturally lead to certain normalization of relations and perhaps an improvement in bilateral relations. the conversation was entirely focused on issues of security guarantees instead. and he went on to say that these conversations will continue at a lower level in europe. in january. the russian position is clear. it wants to, once i legally bindings guarantee that ukraine will never enter nato when it wants to make sure that later weapons are never stationed in ukraine or other buffer countries around russia. the u. s. position is that that is a decision between ukraine and nato. and it can't be decided in bilateral talks between the us and russia. ship, the u. s. has also threatened economic sanctions against russia if it were to invade ukraine with all those troops amassed on the border. president putin says that would cause a rupture in relations around is ongoing talks,

indiana to revive the 2015 nuclear deal are making satisfactory progress. but al jazeera has been told in agreement with world powers is still far off as date, disagreement or the terrans demand for you as sanctions to be lifted immediately. us led forces formerly ended their combat mission in iraq earlier this month. he opperation was a response to the rise of isom. some troops will remain in advisory and training roles. but his mammals abdel why had reports from baghdad, their present raises concerns of further anti american attacks. ah, a change of mission for the remaining u. s. forces in iraq. instead of being on frontline combat missions, 2 and a half 1000 us personnel, and a 1000 troops from the international coalition forces, have switched to a training and advising their iraqi or lies. the transition teal. and i said

earlier, this month was sealed in july by iraq is prime minister most of all called me and he s a president job white in the huddle. it's to be late that you as troops were to stick to only training iraqi forces and exchanging intelligence while the heavy duel and tackle himself to the rock. both iran and the united states supported us in the war against terrorism, but they mustn't use our soil to settle scores. we can't let any of these parties target our people. we've addressed that message to all through diplomacy and the strategic dialogue which stressed, maintaining iraq's sovereignty sally, the soviet. a gradual downsizing view as troops was already happening when the orders of former president donald trump. but the brooks he wore in the region has been fermented by conflict between iran and the u. s. iraqis, prime minister muscle car, the me is facing increasing pressure from our mid groups and their political wings,

which are allied to iran. they reject any u. s. foothold in iraq, no matter what the role is, a pro iranian onward group sounded this warning, and the mulatto hurtled. what the in her to it in any u. s. military prisons in the country is considered an occupation model. we will go by asked number 51 of the ring charter, which gives nations the right to resist any military presence on valence. the 4 we will take up arms and fight them along. as we did before, harry, on the telephone on the conflict, he has escalated since the killing of iranian commander class, him slay manny, nab whom i did mohandas, a leader of iraq sci popular mobilization forces. and you as to june, attack me about that a port last january. that triggered the iraq's house of representatives to pass a resolution demanding the old foreign troops leave the country. u. s. personnel, along with coalition forces used several military bases across iraq. since the u. s

. led invasion in 2003 to depose saddam hussein. the foreign forces play the major role in the fight against i cell, which occupied some parts of a rock before its defeat in 2017. now with the resurgence of ices sleeper cells in some areas as well as iranian intervention. the question is whether the pentagons mission shift will have an operational impact with abdullah had al jazeera but that the italian government is committing billions of dollars to transform one of europe largest steelworks into a hub for so called grains field. it's part of its plans to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions back to say the plant which has been linked to high cancer rates and toxic illusion should be closed altogether. atom rainy reports for

the southern city of toronto. still works. italy casts a long shadow over the southern italian city of town and tow. courts have ruled at toxins from the complex are responsible for increased cancers in the area, but the foundries continue to pollute the air every day. not far from the still works flawed yano down the low self panic. tony italian christmas cakes to raise money for parents like him who have a child living with cancer ophelia. ah lived what my daughter was full when she was diagnosed with leukemia. we feel we have been abandoned by the state. a recent study shows increased rates of child leukemia between 20172019 people in toronto are 30 percent more likely to develop lung cancer than anywhere else in italy. the map reveals that cancers are especially prevalent in neighborhood close to the steelworks like time body. that is not people who are leaving them board,

that they have some parents or some song or some thing. yes. i mean, guess you have you, each family is a few more of the inside high levels of carson engines, dioxin have also been found in local sea food, not only damaging people's health, but putting another industry at risk. italian government says it's now fully committed to cleaning up uva, producing so called green steel is central to its plan to tackle global warming using some of the you covered recovery funds. it is planning to invest upwards of 4 and a half $1000000000.00 to stop the steel works, burning toxic coal. it'll take years to update the factory here to make green steel until that time doesn't ship like this one will arrive every month. they're carrying millions of tons of coal, that fuel the furnace is to make the steel here. and that coal poison,

the air for the local. so live here. back on land. we toward the perimeter of evil though with activists live channel mana, a former employee. he said overhauling the plant is not a good idea. invest in him down to the investing in a coal fired bond from the 960. it's blowing money. why? they should build new plans, but they just keep spending money on this outdated plant should already be close down, like it would be in other parts of europe. those who faced the greatest risks, the workers are exposed to toxic fumes and dangerous conditions, day after day. recently, a worker who reported a safety failure was fired. his unionist protesting the decision of the safety situation is fully planned. the, i don't, it's been work has come forward to point dangerous conditions. they pin the blame on us and try to silence, oscillate. those who clock in and out of here every day know the dangers,

but it's steady work in a poor part of the country. jobs they hope will one day soon become safer. adam rainy al jazeera tat unto italy. ah, hello, are you watching out the, are these the top stories? this alum? south africa says it'll a's restrictions after infections dropped by almost 30 percent this week. the government believes it's past the peak of the, on the con, the variance from the mila has moved from cape town. full indications that south africa has passed the peak of its 4th wave, which appear to have started toward the end of november or early december. now they've seen a 50 percent.